Security cards are used as information carriers or data carriers for security markings, identity cards, check cards, credit cards, personal passes, passports, product identifiers and other identification carriers. Security cards must be secure against forgery. Also, it must be easy to check the authenticity of the security cards. Security markings are increasingly manufactured in the form of a fused laminate in which a card core carrying the information is protected by other transparent films.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,308,876 provides an identity card consisting of a relatively thick carrier film and a thin transparent film, between which there is a special paper having internal features, such as watermarks, banknote printings or the like, which serve for protection against forgeries and cause differences in the thickness of the paper. The three layers are plastified together in such a way that the internal features are manually, mechanically and/or visually detectable through the transparent film. Further markings which serve to identify the card holder are provided at a suitable point on this known security marking. For example, a photograph in the form of a film transparency is inserted during plastifying between the special paper and the carrier film and is firmly bonded to the special paper. Furthermore, it is possible, at any desired point on the front or rear of the security marking, to laminate a strip of special paper, printed according to security technology, onto the outside of the plastic material, as a field for later insertion of signatures or other handwritten entries.
Paper has the advantage that numerous latent security markings, such as watermarks, banknote printings, security filaments and the like, can be contained therein, while, by contrast, the material which is used for the manufacture of plastic cards and consists entirely of plastic does not contain any authenticity or security markings of this type. When it is laminated to paper cores, it is unfortunately a disadvantage that these laminations can be opened up relatively easily and are thus accessible to manipulations and forgeries of any kind.
German Auslegeschrift No. 2,163,943 discloses a personal security marking which comprises a combination of a support layer, an electrically conductive layer, a barrier layer, a photoconductive layer with an organic photoconductor, optionally a cover layer, a protective layer on the photoconductive layer or on the cover layer, a protective layer on the rear of the layer support and, optionally, a cover layer on the last-mentioned protective layer. In this personal security marking, a number of different materials are assembled to give a laminate which, due to the lack of homogeneity of the individual layers, can be split up so that it is possible to carry out forgeries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,408 issued to Keskin, et al. describes an identification card and access control device which includes a header piece with stored memory and terminals for interfacing with an electronic port of a reader device, with encoded data programmed into the memory. An identification card, identifying the holder, is attached to the electronic header piece and bears printed information relating to and identifying the intended holder.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,367 issued to Forster, describes an identification tag comprising a multilayer assembly incorporating, in sequence, a metal backing layer, a bulk structural layer, a piezo-electric layer and an electrode layer. The electrode layer incorporates antennas structures for receiving interrogating radiation comprising a first radiation component at a relatively lower frequency and a second radiation component at a relatively higher frequency. The electrode layer also incorporates a structure for modulating a second signal generated in response to receiving the second component by a first signal generated in response to receiving the first component to generate a modulated signal which is re-emitted as reflected radiation from the tag. The presence of the tag is determinable from modulation components present in the reflected radiation, thereby distinguishing the tag from other objects capable of reflecting radiation, but not modulating it.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,015 issued to Norton, describes a system, apparatus and method for enabling the operation of a vehicle or other equipment by using a smart card for transmitting an authorization code to the vehicle or the other equipment. Without the authorization code from the smart card the vehicle or other equipment is inoperable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,830 issued to Gelbman, describes a flexible electronic label. The electronic label provides for displaying information in connection with a mammal, non-mammal, an item or location. The label includes a display assembly having electronic ink disposed on a support, one or more antennas for sending or receiving signals corresponding to one of instructions, programs, data or selected indicia to be displayed by said display assembly, a storage element in circuit with the antenna for storing the instructions, programs, data and indicia, and one or more processors for intelligently determining the indicia to be displayed by the display assembly, for controlling and coordinating operation of the label, and for generating output signals for instructing the display assembly to display the indicia.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,719 issued to Curiel, describes methods of creating tamper resistant informational articles, also related products are disclosed. In one embodiment, a lens has a preformed transparent hologram, metallized portions are provided and may be altered through selective application of heat to predetermined parts thereof to create information which may be fixed or variable. Printing may be provided on the hologram before metallizing. A base portion underlies the metallized layer. In yet another embodiment of the invention, an opaque base portion has a hologram formed in the upper surface thereof with portions of the hologram being made readily visible by partial metallization covering only portions of the hologram with or without information provided as by printing overlying or underlying portions of the metallized sector or both. A transparent overlying lens is secured in overlying relationship. Metallizing may be such as to permit viewing underlying hologram portions or information or not.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,591 issued to Griswold, et al. describes a token for use in a cashless transaction involving an electronic device that includes a token body having a coin shape. The token has a digital circuit embedded within the token body and a memory embedded within the token body that is coupled to the digital circuit. The token also includes an input/output interface embedded within the token body that is coupled to the digital circuit and which enables the digital circuit to communicate with the electronic device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,039 issued to Knight, et al. describes a method of manufacture of a security thread suitable for use in security articles including security paper such as that used for banknotes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,151 issued to Baldi, describes a currency note having an identification and/or authentication element including an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit can store, securely in electronic form and accessible from outside, such information as: the value, serial number, issuer, and date of issuance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,024 issued to Haghiri-Tehrani, et al. describes an identification card equipped with an integrated circuit, in which the circuit along with its connection leads is arranged on a carrier element which is embeddedly enclosed by the card on all sides by use of the hot lamination technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,217 issued to Moraw, et al. describes an identity card consisting of a plurality of layers, of which the cover layers are highly transparent films and the layers of the card core are films of moderate to low transparency, as a result of added pigment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,155 issued to Soules, et al. describes a conventional playing card that is invisibly coded so that it can only be read face down, by an electro-optic reading means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,615 issued to Hurier describes a security device for identifying products that includes a printing medium in which luminescent agents are dispersed, having at least one opaque part disposed on at least one luminescent part of the medium. The opaque part is the same color as the luminescent part and has at least one contour of a different color. When illuminated by predetermined radiation in the non-visible spectrum, the device shows an image different than that observed in ordinary light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,069 issued to Outwater, et al. describes a product authentication system and method employing a unique mark that is simple and cost-effective to apply and read, but provides several layers of protection, including anti-counterfeit and anti-diversion, against counterfeiters. The unique mark includes a bar code that is printed in invisible ink comprising a UV or near-IR ink and an IR mark. The first layer of protection is invisibility. The second layer of protection is the bar code itself. The third layer of protection is the presence of the IR mark in the unique mark. The fourth layer of protection is the IR emitting characteristics of the IR mark.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,039 issued to Irwin, Jr., et al., describes a document having printed electronic circuits by using an electronic verification machine that determines the electrical characteristics or signatures of the circuits printed on the document. The electronic verification machine electronically couples with the circuit and applies an excitation signal such as an AC signal having a predetermined frequency to the circuit. A detection circuit in the electronic verification machine then generates a detection signal in response to the excitation signal which represents the characteristics of the circuit printed on the document. The electronic verification machine can also be used to stigmatize the document by applying a signal to the electronic circuits having sufficient strength to alter the electronic circuit.
U.S. Patent application 2001/0035822 applied for by Seidel describes an anti theft tack device incorporating a detectable element which can be attached to the body component of an existing electronic article surveillance security tag to replace the tack-like connecting component of the security tag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,684 issued to Becker, describes a tag circuit system using resonant circuit technology in conjunction with an insulative substrate and conductive ink or metal conductor to permit the tag to be sewn into the clothing, protecting the circuit elements, yet providing a trace on a portion of the tag which can be clipped from the main portion of the tag to change the operation of the tag.
Various gaming applications using optically readable arrays and readers are known such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,848 issued to Soltys, et al. Method and apparatus for monitoring casinos and gaming, U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,435 issued to Soltys, et al. Method and apparatus for monitoring casinos and gaming, U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,379 issued to Soltys, et al. Method, apparatus and article for verifying card games, such as blackjack, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,221 issued to Brass, et al., Printed data strip including bit-encoded information and scanner control.
Biometric information such as a fingerprint can be reduced to a series of terminations or bifurcations (called “minutia”) corresponding to various locations on the fingerprint. U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,442 issued to Tanaka, et al. describes a method and apparatus for matching fingerprints in which the collation rate is improved by using both characteristic and non-characteristic minutia for the collation process. An image processing unit used in the apparatus cannot determine whether the collation minutia searched are characteristic or non-characteristic since an Integrated Circuit (IC) card holds a list of collation minutia records, thus offering improved security. Further, random numbers may be utilized for accessing the collation minutia record list for further improved security. However the need to have the data stored on a processing unit increases the cost and complexity.
A standard accepted means of identifying an individual is through their fingerprint or retinal image. Numerous fingerprint algorithms and methods have been proposed and used in existing art such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,196 issued to Yamaguchi, et al. which achieves the reliability and simplicity in registering a fingerprint by indicating the quality of a fingerprint image by the number of pseudo minutiae.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,823 issued to Tasaki, et al. describes a card and a card identifying apparatus. The card is imparted with predetermined characteristic information in the form of an embossment pattern, a character pattern, a fingerprint pattern, a colored pattern or a combination of selected ones of these patterns, while information corresponding to the predetermined characteristic information is stored in a memory incorporated in the card. Upon insertion of the card into the card identifying apparatus, the latter senses the characteristic information while reading out the corresponding information from the card for collation. When coincidence is found between both sets of information, it is decided that the card is genuine. However the need to have the data stored on a processing unit increases the cost and complexity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,741 issued to Gerety, et al. attempts to eliminate the microprocessor based card and utilizes a two-dimensional, high-density, damage-tolerant printed code suitable for encoding multiple biometrics and text for positive off-line identity verification. The two-dimensional, high-density, damage-tolerant printed code is suitable for printing on a conventionally sized ISO card or other papers used in verifying identity. An ISO-sized card or other identity paper bearing a two-dimensional, high-density, damage-tolerant printed code encoding multiple biometrics, e.g., encoded image likeness and multiple fingerprint templates, may be used with an off-line integrated positive identity verification apparatus that is capable of decoding the image and fingerprint samples taken from an individual whose identity is sought to be verified. However, since the two dimensional code can be read by conventional means the two dimensional code can be readily forged because it does not have a built in verifying mechanism to allow the reader to check for authenticity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,623, Soules, et al., describes an apparently conventional document such as an identification (ID) card that is constructed as a laminate within which a code or other coding indicia such as a photograph, bar code or fingerprint is concealed from human view. The document is read by a conventional electro-optic reader means placed against a face of the card. The reader uses a beam of light in the wavelength absorbed by the material with which the coded indicia is produced, but reflected by the background against which the coded indicia is “seen” by the beam. The card is preferably a laminate of at least an upper lamina and a lower lamina, each made of a synthetic resin which has a substantially white imprintable surface conventionally printed with the identification of the owner of the card with a pigment-free, non-aqueous ink which is visible to the human eye but substantially transparent to wavelengths outside the visible range. Typically, both the upper and lower laminae, are opaque to visible light, but the face through which the coded indicia is to be read by the reader, is transparent to the reader's beam. The code is read because there is sufficient contrast between the transmitted and absorbed light in the wavelength used by the reader. Each of the forgoing patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Various gaming applications using optically readable arrays and readers are also seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,848 issued to Soltys, et al. entitled Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Casinos and Gaming; U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,435 issued to Soltys, et al. entitled Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Casinos and Gaming; U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,379 issued to Soltys, et al. entitled Method, Apparatus and Article for Verifying Card Games, Such as Blackjack; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,221 issued to Brass, et al., entitled Printed Data Strip Including Bit-Encoded Information and Scanner Control.
The prior art is replete with identification and verification systems; however the need exists for a low cost and simple security marking system which can be used as an individual identification system, gaming mark or a security mark for product identification of forged or non licensed replicas.